Furnace.



No. 659,495. Patented Oct. 9, I900.

W. SWINDELL.

FURNACE.

Application mod Aug. 1, 1900 4N0 Model.) 2 SheatsSheet I.

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No. 659,495. Patent ed Oct. 9, I900.

w. SWINDELL.

FURNACE.

Application filed. Augv 1, 1900.) (Ho Model.) 2 Sh99tsShe9t 2.

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SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 659,495, dated October 9, 1900.

Application filed August 1, 1900. Serial No. 25,508 (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM SWINDELL, of Allegheny, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Fur-' naces, of which improvement the following is a specification.

My invention, while more particularly relating to furnaces for heating billets, blooms, 850., is also desirably adapted for use in melting-furnaces; and its object is to provide a furnace into and from which the material which is to be subjected to heat can be readily and conveniently introduced and withdrawn and within which it may be subjected to a thorough and uniform application of heat.

The improvement claimed is hereinafter fully set forth.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a vertical longitudinal section through a furnace, illustrating an embodiment of my invention at the line a a b b of Fig. 2; Fig. 2, a horizontal section at the line 0 c of Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a vertical longitudinal section at the line a 00 d of Fig. 2, illustrating a preferred form for heating billets of quadrangular section; Fig. 4.-, a vertical longitudinal section at the line 6 eff of Fig. 5, showing my invention adapted to use as a melting-furnace; and Fig. 5, a horizontal section through the same at the line g g of Fig. 4.

In the practice of my invention I provide a furnace having a heating or combustion chamber 1, which is of substantially-rectangular form in horizontal section and which is provided with a hearth 2, which is down-' wardly inclined from its ends to its central portion, which may be either substantially horizontal or slightly concave, as preferred.

The inclined end portions of the hearth 2 communicate at or adjacent to the ends of the furnace with feed openings or passages 3, through which the billets or other material to be heated are supplied to the combustionchamber, said openings being controlled by doors or valves 4, which may be either hinged, so as to be opened by the material which passes down the inclined portions of the hearth and closed by gravity, or be adapted to be moved by an operator into and out of closed position, as desired. Discharge-passages 5 for the withdrawal of material from the combustion-chamber are formed in the side walls thereof, said passages having their bottoms in or substantially in line with the hearth and being controlled by suitable doors 6. A suitable slag-spout 5 may also be provided at a convenient point near the bottom of the combustion-chamben, j

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the furnace is specially designed for heating cylindrical billets, which by reason of their form will readily run down the inclined portions of the hearth to the horizontal portion thereof; but in cases where the material to be heated is of quadrangular section the end portions ofthe hearth are preferably inclined at a more obtuse angle and the roof 7 of the combustion-chamber is provided with poke-holes 8, through which bars may be inserted to move the billets or other material along the hearth, as shown in Fig. 3.

Gas-regenerator chambers 9 9 and air-regenerator chambers 10 10*, which are provided with checker-work or fire-brick filling 11, are formed in the masonry of the furnace below the combustion-chamber, and gas and air are supplied to said regenerator-chambers through pipes controlled by suitable reversing-valves in the ordinary and well-known manner. Each of the gas-regenerator chambers 9 9 communicates with the combustionchamber 1, near one end thereof, by gas-flues 12, which open into the combustion-chamber on opposite sides of the inclined portions thereof, and each of theair-regenerator chambers 10 10 communicates with the combustion-chamber, near one'end thereof, by airfiues 13, which open into the combustionchamber, on opposite sides thereof, adjacent to the openings of the gas-fines 12 thereinto. Ports or openings 14, controlled byvalves or doors 14, establish communication between the upper portions of the air regenerator chambers and the combustion-chamber adjacent to the ends and at each side thereof. The doors 14 controlling the two ports 14 on each side of the furnace, may be connected to a chain 16, passing over sheaves 16, and provided with a balance-Weight 16", so that one of said doors may be opened and the other coincidently closed, as may from time to time be desired, or the doors may be so connected with any suitable operating mechanism that any one of them may be opened or closed, as desired, independently of the positions of the others.

The construction shown in Figs. 4 and 5, which embodies all the structural and operative features of that first above described, is more particularly designed for use as a melting-furnace. The hearth 2 is concave in longitudinal section between its inclined end portions, and in addition to the end feed-openings 3 and doors 4 of the former constructions the combustion-chamberis provided with top feed-openings 15, controlled by re movable caps or covers through which or through the end feed-openings 3 the material to be melted may be introduced into the furnace.

In the operation of the furnace heated air and gas from the regenerator-chambers 1O 9 or 10 9, as the case may be, are admitted to the combustion-chamber through the fines 13 12 of the regenerator-chambers and the mixture of air and gas is ignited at the delivery ends of said flues. The products of combustion sweep downwardly over the hearth 2, heating the billets or other material thereon, and are discharged from the combustionchamber through the fines 13 12 of the regenerator-chambers 10 9 or 10 9, as the case may be, which adjoin the end of the furnace farther from that at which the air and gas entered. After the traverse of the Waste products of combustion through the regeneratorchambers into which they have been discharged has been continued snfiiciently long to properly heat the checker-work therein the reversingvalves are actuated in the usual manner and air and gas are admitted to said regenerator-chambers and thence to the combustion-chamber, through which the products of combustion pass in reverse direction to that first indicated. The heated products act upon the billets or other material in the combustion-chamber while traversing downwardly over the inclined portion of the hearth at the end at which the air and gas enter horizontally over the middle portion of the incoming gas and air.

hearth and upwardly over the inclined portion at the farther end.

It will be seen that the upper open ends of the fines 12 13 are located above the inclined end portions of the hearth and stand at some distance from the ends of the combustionchamber in order to enable them to be placed in proper relation for the cornmingling of the The provision of the end ports 14 and their controlling valves or doors 14 enables the heating action of the products of combustion to be eontinued,'when desired, entirely up to the end of the inclined portion of the hearth over which they are discharged, as by opening one or both of the doors 14 at that end the products will have an avenue or avenues of discharge close to the end of the furnace in to the air-regenerator chambers nearer that end through the port or ports 14 controlled by the opened valve or valves 14.

i I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The combination, in a heating-furnace, of a combustion-chamber, a hearth therein having inclined end portions at opposite ends of a middle portion which is substantially horizontal, feed-openings and doors, adjoining the ends of said inclined portions, for the introduction of material to be heated, lateral feed-openings and doors, adjacent to the mid-- dle portion of the hearth, for the withdrawal of material, and flues opening into the combustion-chamber, above and at the sides of the inclined portions of the hearth, for the ingress of gaseous fuel to, and the discharge of products of combustion from, the combustion-chamber.

2. The combination, in a heating-furnace, of a combustion-chamber, a hearth therein having inclined end portions at opposite ends of a middle portion which is substantially horizontal, feed-openings and doors, adjoining the ends of said inclined portions, for the introduction of material to be heated, lateral feed-openin gs and doors, adjacent to the middle portion of the hearth, for the withdrawal of material, poke-holes extending through the roof of the combustion-chamber for the introduction of rods to move material on the hearth, and flues opening into the combustion-chamber above and at the sides of the inclined portions of the hearth, for the ingress of gaseous fuel to, and the discharge of products of combustion from, the combustionchamber.

3. The combination, in a heating-furnace, of a combustion-chamber, a hearth therein having inclined end portions at opposite ends of a middle portion which is substantially horizontal, an opening leading through the top of the furnace into the combustion-chamber, adjacent to the outer end of one of the inclined end portionsof the hearth, adoor or cover controlling said opening, a lateral opening and door, adjacent to the middle portion of the hearth, for the withdrawal of material,

3 and fines opening into the eombustion-cham ber above andat the sides of the inclined porj tionsof the hearth, for the ingress of gaseous fuel to, and the discharge of products of combustion from, the combustionrchamber,

4. The combination, in a heating-furnace, of a combustion-chamber, a hearth therein having inclined end portions at opposite ends of a middle portion which is substantially ICC one of said flues, adjacent to one end of the combustion-chamber.

5. The combination, in a heating-furnace, of a combustion-chamber, a hearth therein having inclined end portions at opposite ends of a middle portion which is substantially horizontal, door-controlled openings leading into the combustion-chamber for the introduction and Withdrawal of material to and from the hearth, pairs of fines, for gas and air, respectively, having their ends adjacent 

